Students at Hillcrest Academy will put their physics knowledge to work at the University of Northern Iowa Physics Olympics in April. London Schrock, Kennedy Roth, Sarah Miller, Elizabeth Slater, Eli Ours, Aaron Hershberger, Malia Sedlacek, Meredith Blossom, John Hughes, and Toby Chen are the 10 Ravens competing in this year’s contest. The competition sees high school students in three events bringing in various pre-built contraptions such as catapults, mouse trap cars, and wooden stick bridges to see how they compare to other schools’ creations. Two other events will feature students figuring out physics problems in real time, including constructing a bridge out of plastic straws, and measuring the height and length of different objects using various tools like string and 30 centimeter rulers. Chemistry and Physics teacher Dr. Mark Miller tells KCII News about the pressure of living up to past Hillcrest teams, “In the past, ok I don’t want to jinx this, but traditionally we’ve done pretty well in the regional competition. We’ve consistently had at least one event that made it to the state round or that got some sort of plaque or trophy. So it’s kind of like sports or track and field, where you can send a whole team to state, or you can qualify in individual events. So, we’ve done well in at least one of the events year to year.” Miller says his class found a box filled with trophies from previous students that made him nervous, but excited to see how his students will compete. The Physics Olympics will be held on Tuesday, April 7th at the University of Northern Iowa UNI Dome starting at 9:30 a.m.